Battle Report - War in the Woods FIW

 I had been hoping to play an FIW scenario with Will a couple of weekends ago but for various reasons that fell through.  With the game set up, I decided to play it solo.  The scenario is a strong French advance towards a British stockade that has been established until a more substantial fort can be constructed.  The French need to disrupt this plan.

The French, consisting of several companies of the Royal Roussillon Regiment, a French Canadian Regiment and a large number of Huron Indians are advancing from the far side of the Black River.  The stockade is defended by a force of Albany Militia and the British, learning of French moves, have despatched a relief force, consisting of the Royal American Regiment, some Rangers and a party of Mohawk Indians. This is the playing area, the stockade is bottom left and the road to Albany running along the Black River valley is the route to be used by the relief force.  The French are on the right bank of the river as viewed here:

The stockade and the Albany Militia:

As can be seen there is a stone bridge adjacent to the stockade and several fords marked by the lighter coloured stones. The whole area is heavily forested and there are several tree covered rocky outcrops which offer excellent defensive positions.

Its not long before clouds of Huron are spotted in the trees along the river, moving towards the fords:

The Canadians advance towards the stone bridge:

A rocky outcrop opposite the Canadian advance is held by an Albany Militia outpost, which begins to fire on the Canadians:

The Canadians rush forward and capture the bridge, but they are met by a hail of fire from the stockade that cuts down a number of them:

The Canadians have now occupied a rocky outcrop on their side of the river and exchange fire with the militia outpost.  Several casualties from both sides fall.

Further up river, the Royal Roussillon Regiment, covered by Huron scouts moves up to one of the fords:

The British plan is to rush the Royal Americans down the road as rapidly as possible to support the defence of the stockade, while the Rangers, supported by the Mohawks will cover this move by holding as many of the fording points as possible. 

The Royal Americans march down the road:

And the Rangers close in on the first ford:

The Huron scouts covering the Royal Roussillon dive into the woods and attack the Rangers on the outcrop causing some casualties

And the Royal Roussillon begin their crossing.

Meanwhile at a crossing closer to the stockade a large Huron war party, unopposed crosses the river.

They clear out the remaining militia from the outcrop.

While all this is going on the Royal Americans continue to plod along the road without interference.

The Rangers and Mohawks now engage in a firefight against large numbers of Huron on the opposite river bank:

The head of the Royal American column arrives at the stockade:

and deploys into a line covering the approaches to the stockade just in time to meet the Huron advance and reoccupy the outcrop.

The Hurons surge into the Royal American line and bitter hand to hand fighting forces back some of the redcoats:

But the Hurons are in insufficient numbers and bit by bit they are pushed back and eventually routed following the arrival of some Mohawks: 

The Hurons leading the advance of the Royal Roussillon are counter attacked by some Mohawks and eliminated as the French infantry advance across the ford.

The rangers come under fire and lose many casualties, but they and the Mohawks are now in a very strong position and are able to halt the French.

  

The rangers on the outcrop are very nearly destroyed, but a charge bay Mohawks, led by their chief finally stops the French, who are chased back across the ford.

At the same tome the Huron attack against the Royal Americans is destroyed and they too beat a retreat.

Having lost huge numbers and with the destruction of the Royal Roussillon a french withdrawal begins.  The Canadians realise that they have no hope in crossing the stone bridge and they too melt back into the woods.  Overall and interesting game that saw some very hard fought close combat.  The dense woods and terrain prevented the effective use of musket fire in many cases.

I am sure that the French will attempt another move against the stockade soon.

Most of the figures are by Irregular Miniatures apart from the Hurons, which are Wargames Foundry.  

For rules I used an adapted set of Command & Colors, much simplified by the lack of cavalry and artillery.  Also the Indians were given an advantage in close combat, but are not so good with muskets. The Rangers gain when firing due to their marksmanship ability.